question - weird symptoms

[Lorilee60]

I have been receiving B12 injections since May, but only the last 3 weeks every other day. I have recently started feeling a "tightness" to my eyes and face, and tingling sensation on my lips and some on my fingers. I had heard this tingling sensation is a symptom of deficiency, but I didn't have that one. Now that I am getting treatment, I am feeling pretty strange. Does this seem part of the path of recovery, or could it be completely unrelated?

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Lorilee60

It is not uncommon for some neurological symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 starts repairing the damage done to your nervous system and your brain starts getting multiple messages from part of the body it had "forgotten about" or lost contact with.

I sometimes liken it to a badly tuned radio on which you have turned the volume up high trying to catch the programme you want when all of a sudden the signal comes in loud and clear and the blast nearly deafens you.

A lot will depend on the severity and longevity of your B12 deficiency as to how long before there is no further improvement or recovery. Some symptoms will "disappear" quite quickly whereas others may take months or even years. There is no set timescale as we are all different.

If you can get to see a doctor please also ask him/her to check your Folate level as this and B12 help your iron to make red blood cells and to function properly.

I'm not a medically trained person but have had P.A. (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 45 years.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Just to add to Clives response - the symptoms of b12 deficiency develop over a very long period of time. Have you had periods in the past - could be years ago - when you had problems with tingling in your lips and fingers and it then went away? I went through a period of getting sensations that I hadn't had for 10 years when I started my recovery from deficiency.

[Lorilee60 in reply to Gambit62]

Not that I recall, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen! I thank you for your post! I feel like I will never get better!

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Lorilee60]

it took me a long time - more than 15 months after being told I was B12 deficient to work out for myself what was the right treatment for me. I did get a lot worse in that time but now I'm better than I have been for decades.

[Lorilee60]

Sorry - me again. So the past two days were awful - I had facial tightness and pain, eye tightness and pain, and every spot my head hurt for the past year was throbbing. I feel like it is the nerve recovery and today is much better. Today, however, I have this burning sensation inside my body - like it is burning up inside. Is that too part of this recovery? Thank You!

[SusanLMckinney in reply to Lorilee60]

I had no detectable B12 by the time they found out what was going on, had symptoms to numerous to mention, but I never had sensations that got worse as the healing began. Make sure your dr knows everything that is going on